Idaho Lawmakers Against Term Limits

Published 8:00 pm, Tuesday, January 29, 2002

Idaho's Legislature became the first in the nation Wednesday to vote to repeal term limits.

Gov. Dirk Kempthorne had promised to veto the measure, but the 27-8 Senate vote Wednesday and last week's 50-20 vote in the House showed there is enough support to override a veto.

Senate President Pro Tem Robert Geddes said the term limits strip voters of their responsibility to choose qualified leaders.

"By throwing officials out of office after a fixed term, we rid ourselves of deciding who is good and who is not," he said.

The term limits measure, approved by voters in 1994, restricts county commissioners and school board members to six years in office during the previous 11 years and all other elected state, county and city officials to eight years in the previous 15. The eight-year limit on legislators is one of the shortest in the nation.

Term limits advocates accused their opponents of ignoring the electorate and called the attempted repeal unconstitutional.

"This is a law made by the people," Senate Democratic Floor Leader Clint Stennett said. "That process is superior. It's irresponsible, it's arrogant for us to ignore it."

Critics of term limits said they strip government, especially in sparsely populated rural areas, of critical experience. They also argued that Idaho voters were misled in the early 1990s by the big-money campaigns of outside organizations like U.S. Term Limits.

Without a repeal, 158 county government officials and the attorney general will be barred from filing for re-election this year. The Legislature would not be affected until 2004.

Earlier this month, the Oregon Supreme Court tossed out term limits for state legislators. It was the first such ruling since 1997, when term limits in Massachusetts and Washington were held unconstitutional.